A Boat and a Map

Farah looked up from a pile of leaflets as they came in, keeping a finger between two pages. Then she saw what was in the crate.

‘You’ve got it.’

Bente nodded. She didn’t take her coat off yet. Sami and Noor put the crate on the low table Farah cleared for them.

‘Under the old landing stage,’ Sami said.

Wim stood the boat hook in the corner. ‘And now it needs a dry harbour.’

Farah fetched newspapers and a roll of kitchen paper. Noor checked the clock above the counter. Nearly eleven. There was time, but not enough to tell the whole story first.

Wim set the model on a clean cloth. Water no longer sloshed across the deck; the towel in the crate was heavy with it. Bente pressed a folded piece of kitchen paper to the boat’s floor. It turned see-through at once.

‘Don’t rub,’ Wim said. ‘You might take the paint off.’

She dabbed again with a dry patch of paper. Noor held the roll and tore off fresh pieces. Sami dropped the wet ones into an empty bucket. When he took a sheet from Noor, it stuck to his hand.

‘You can have this one back,’ he said.

Bente giggled. She put the soggy sheet in the bucket and took a dry one herself.

Wim helped free the passenger leaning against the window. His nose was still in one piece. The chair was crooked on the floor. Bente put the little man on an upturned lid beside the model.

‘He can wait here.’

Noor moved the lid somewhere nobody would catch it with a sleeve. ‘Shall I keep the chair too?’

‘Yes. I want that one.’

The white roof had mostly collected dirt. With her grandad’s help, Bente carefully wiped off the brown speckles. One edge of the paint was damaged. She looked at it for a long time, then put down her cloth.

‘I’ll touch that up later.’

Wim examined the underside and the lamp, still switched off. He put the batteries aside. The light didn’t need to be on that afternoon. Everything had to dry properly first, and he wanted time to check it.

The tiny passenger waited while they cleared the table. Then Bente put his chair back. There was a dry patch where she could fix it with a little glue. Wim held the boat steady. Bente settled the passenger in place, then stood an empty box beside him to stop anyone knocking him by mistake.

‘We’ll leave him alone now,’ she said.

Noor put the box of boots in front of her. Bente opened it and tried them in two places. On the back seat, they would block the window. There was room on the floor beside the captain.

‘There,’ she said. ‘Indoors.’

She placed the two left boots side by side. They didn’t need gluing down again straight away. The boat wasn’t going sailing today.

Wim brought out some new string. The bag with the old string stayed on the table. He fastened the new piece at the front, inspected it and started again. Bente held the boat.

‘The first one was better,’ she said.

Wim tugged the string. ‘This one doesn’t slip as much.’

He fastened it once more, then let Bente try for herself. She pulled firmly while he supported the model. The string held. She looked at the bow, then at her grandad.

‘We’ll test it together next time.’

‘And I’ll fetch my things first,’ Wim said.

He coiled the string loosely in the front of the model. Noor took the map from her coat. One corner had folded over under her zip. She flattened it with a book.

Farah came to ask what they wanted beside the boat.

‘The photo from when we were making it,’ Bente said. ‘And our names. Grandad’s and mine.’

‘Can we put the map there too?’ Noor asked her. ‘So people can see where we looked.’

Bente studied the paper. ‘Yes. Beside the board, not underneath. Then they can see it without lifting the boat.’

Noor took a fresh card for the explanation. Her first sentence was too long. By the time she’d written model ferry, she had filled the line. Sami looked over her shoulder.

‘Smaller writing won’t help,’ he said. ‘Then everyone will have to borrow glasses.’

She turned the card over. This time she only explained the different lines. A solid line meant something they had seen. The boat’s possible route stayed dotted. The flag and wind went by the windmill. The arrow for the usual outflow pointed towards the lock, separate from the route.

Bente drew the card closer. ‘What about your receipt? That’s where you drew it.’

Noor laid the receipt beside the map. It was much smaller and scruffier. You could still see the price of milk on the back.

‘That can stay here until we set everything out,’ she said.

Sami drew a dot by the pumping station and pointed to the correct side of the island. Together they checked that the narrow channel was on the left when you stood there facing the windmill. Noor didn’t add another boat to the map. She drew one little model by the old landing stage, where they’d found it.

Under the photograph of the model she put the card in its holder: Built by Wim and Bente. It really floats. Below it went a short card about finding the model. Before Farah took it away, Noor showed it to Bente.

‘Leave out the bit about the string,’ Bente said.

Noor crossed it out and wrote a clean card. She didn’t ask why. Bente read it again and handed it to Farah herself.

Daan arrived with a bag of bread rolls. They ate at the little table at the back, away from the boat. Noor started to pick up her roll and the map at once, then changed her mind and left the map alone. The cheese landed on her plate instead of in the river.

After eating, they carried their last things to the big table. The boat was dry enough for the blue board. Wim and Bente lifted it off the cloth together. The little passenger stayed upright by his window. The boots were indoors beside the captain.

Noor pushed a card back a little so it didn’t hide the roof. Sami took away the empty bucket. Farah set out the leaflets and opened the door to the entrance hall.

It wasn’t two o’clock yet. Bente sat beside Noor and pulled her sleeves over her hands. She looked at the table, where the blue river had its boat again.